“What the…?” I had been rudely awakened. “What are you doing?” I turned the bedside lamp on and checked the clock. It was just after 2am. I lifted the duvet cover to investigate. Franki had the good grace to look a little shamefaced as he came out from under the cover and settle on their blanket on the far side of the bed. “Comfy now?” I asked, my voiced laced with sarcasm. “Ok if I turn the light out?” I added as I did just that.

Moments later it was clear that the boy hadn’t settled. I reached over and tickled his tummy in an attempt to get him to settle. Bit by bit he became even more agitated. I turned the light back on and staring at him tried to make out if his face had swelled up. I took his face in my hands and gently rubbed him. “What’s up baby?” I asked.

Wriggling free Franki started to rub his face on their blanket. Cuddy decided she had had enough and retired to her own bed on the other side of the room. She sighed deeply as she dropped onto the canvas. “Me too, girl,” I grumped.

I got Franki to look at me and could see that his face had swollen quite badly. I decided to waste no more time and slipped out of bed, although in my case it is less slip and more struggle, and picked up the hall phone. I dialled the vet emergency number. Franki bundled by towards the garden but didn’t get out in time. His tummy was clearly upset too. What a delightful night.

I explained what had been going on to the young lady that answered the phone. She asked if it could wait until the morning. I told her ‘no’. I was too worried. She advised me that it would be much more expensive to bring him in at that time instead of the morning. I told her that wasn’t my priority while Franki’s comfort was. I advised that I would be there in about 15 minutes.

I threw on some clothes and put Franki’s lead on. He was delighted to get a night time excursion. I secured him on the back seat of the car and drove down to the vets. Although he was quiet during the short journey he was clearly in distress as he wet himself, something he never does, which I found out when I got to the animal hospital and lifted him out.

As soon as the vet checked him over she told me it looked like an allergic reaction, possibly to an insect bite. She said the warmth was bringing them all out. She gave him a couple of intravenous injections as she checked the hives that had appeared all over his tummy, and gave him a good check over. He was enjoying the attention and despite his obvious discomfort was treating it all as an adventure. Everything else was fine.

After further advice from the vet and a prescription for more cortisone tablets should he need them we were back in the car and off home.

Back in bed he settled almost immediately and was soon snoring. I on the other hand was not. Whenever there’s a problem with any of the kids I sleep lightly and am disturbed by any slight noise. I did eventually doze off again only to be woken by the alarm (which I very rarely use as I normally wake naturally). It was time to get up and get ready for a trip down to Tarragona where I was due to do my language exam for Spanish citizenship.

Before leaving I sent a message to June to ask her to pop in on the kids while I was out to make sure that Franki was okay. She agreed, thank goodness, or I’d have cancelled the exam. I knew I’d spend the morning worrying but knowing that she was going to be checking in I was slightly less so.

It hadn’t been a good night. I’d had very little sleep, which always makes me grumpy. I was so not ready to prove myself a suitable citizen.